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Query - Antiaging Treatment

Set in the Starfire strategy game universe, co-authored by David and Steve White, these novels feature the clash of the Terran Federation, the cat-like Orions, the genocidal Rigelians, and the "Bugs"...join us in the discussion!

Garth 2 wrote:Just been re-reading the series, and just wondered why is the anti-aging treatment restricted to the colony worlds?

Surely it should be universal, with a society imposed limit on children?

Even with a limit on children, the core worlds would get very crowded if you allowed anti-aging treatments on them. It is also a way to encourage people to migrate to the colony worlds, if they want the advantages of longer life.

The only problem with quotes on the internet is that you can't authenticate them -- Abraham Lincoln

Preventing the population from shooting up over the course of a century, as the death rate effectively becomes reduced to accidents, murders or suicides is only one of the reasons.

IIRC, the Terran Federation set up an incorporated colonisation program because they did not have the income to simultaneously finance the Navy and the colonies during the earlier ISWs. That means they probably didn't have the resources to provide anti-aging to everyone.

They also used it as an incentive. Wanna live 300 years? Go tame the frontiers. Or join the military. It's an entirely different set of conditions for the Diaspora compared to, say, the Honorverse.

munroburton wrote:Preventing the population from shooting up over the course of a century, as the death rate effectively becomes reduced to accidents, murders or suicides is only one of the reasons.

IIRC, the Terran Federation set up an incorporated colonisation program because they did not have the income to simultaneously finance the Navy and the colonies during the earlier ISWs. That means they probably didn't have the resources to provide anti-aging to everyone.

They also used it as an incentive. Wanna live 300 years? Go tame the frontiers. Or join the military. It's an entirely different set of conditions for the Diaspora compared to, say, the Honorverse.

um, yes I get all that I'm just wondering by the time of Insurrection why it was still an enforced policy after all: * Colonisation was slowing down, as survey was refocused on maintaining the internal routes.* It must be fuelling resentment between the 'core' and the 'frontier' populations * Why would the corporate world 'elite' not want those same lifespans?

From what I can guess (really never explained in detail), the anti-gerone treatments, while extending lifespan, also helped Man resist the differences in planetary environments better, making it easier to colonize worlds. Beaufort is an example of something beyond the norm, with how tough the environment was.

With that, it makes it easier to understand why it was available to colonists before Inner-worlders. Even with that, advances in medical science extended lifespans anyway (Howard Anderson, at the time of Crusade, was 150 years old [p22]) meant that anti-gerone treatments were, I guess, more to help with, for want of a better word, resistance to different planets than age itself.

The Corporate core worlds had a severe population pressure problem and their solution was brilliant. A very long life would be a great inducement for lots of people to go tame the frontier ... or join the military.

But ... and this is excellent example of good writing, the very long life of the colony planet people created resentment almong the core corporate populations. Just like the fringe people not liking the economics of the core.

I think the potential long term hatred between the fringe and the core was designed from the get go to create excellent writing conditions describing events in Insurrection. And ... we still have the Bugs to consider.